Life imitates art?

A scene reminiscent of the hit video game series Yakuza (Ryu go Gotoku in Japan) broke out in Osaka last week when a young man was caught on video destroying all of the merchandise in a convenience store.

The incident is said to have happened on the morning of 20 September at a Family Mart near Kongo Station in Osakasayama City. The video, posted by Twitter user Tachiko (@kouking0281), shows a large man in the back of the store smashing bottles as several elderly women watch on. Elsewhere in the store some shelves have been swept bare and knocked over.

https://twitter.com/kouking0281/status/1042552336353124352

Website Afternoon News reached out to the store to ask why the man had turned violent against the store and its goods, but they refused to comment while the investigation was still ongoing.

Meanwhile, viewers couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity between this incident and a feature of Yakuza 6 in which players can enter, shop, and get into all sorts of mischief inside a very authentic-looking convenience store chain named “Poppo.”

“Kind of like Yakuza isn’t it?”
“It’s certainly wrong… but I imagine it feels so good.”
“That’s one way to let off some steam.”
“Someone needs to resist him… with fists!”
“Looks like someone asked him to verify his age.”
“He’s surprisingly good at breaking the store. I don’t think I could accomplish that much before getting arrested.”
“He must have practiced on Yakuza first.”

According to the following computer simulation, in order to have escaped this act of vandalism with impunity, the suspect in Osaka would have had to go outside, get into a fight with five thugs, go into a mahjong club, talk to the manager, leave, walk another four blocks, then go back to the store and try to reason with the clerk, leave again by crashing through the “under construction” sign, take a taxi about five blocks away, walk back, buy a soda on the way, then push his way through a derelict to enter the store once again.

If he did all that then everything would have been water under the bridge. Either that or video games have lied to me, in which case I really need to apologize to that plumber who I paid in mushrooms.

Source: Twitter/@kouking0281, Afternoon News, Hachima Kiko
Top image: YouTube/DetectiveConan304